straight talk, john mccain, yesterday. ultimately, hagel's issues with his former gop colleagues are simply personal. >> there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel, because when he was a republican, he attacked president bush, mercilessly, at one point said he was the worst president since herbert hoover. said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense. and was very anti-his own party and people. people don't forget that. >> there you go. a delay is never a good thing, because it does give hagel's opponents additional time to try to torpedo his nomination. the fact that hagel essentially got 59 votes, including four from republicans, suggest that he's likely to be confirmed when this vote comes up again on february 26th. the fact is hagel's going to be a weakened secretary of defense in all of this. is that damage temporary or permanent? yesterday also highlighted a growing problem with the gop, that they are dealing, and one many republicans outside of d.c. fret about. it's clear wh